I’m supposed to go to stream live to the world without the opportunity for a second take? Ummm, no thanks!

I had to worry about sound, lighting, my "script," distractions in the background... It was daunting.

But here’s the thing — Facebook Live is a hugely important tool in your digital toolkit. I regularly work with clients who go Live on Facebook for the first time and find that their videos reach more people that like their page! (300% reach — yes please!!!)

We know that people watch Live videos 3x longer than videos that aren’t live. And that they engage with them 10x more than regular videos!

So yeah, apprehension aside — Facebook Live videos get people watching and engaging.

Before I ever went Live on Facebook for the world to see, I came up with a hack that allowed me to ease my way into the otherwise scary world of live streaming.

And here’s the thing: It’s so simple, you’re going to laugh.

Before going Live for an audience via my brand page, I went Live via my personal page with my privacy settings adjusted to “Only me.”

This meant I could practice being on camera, see how the video looked on my computer, hear the sound, play with the awesome built-in filters, and a whole lot else, knowing that I’d be the only to see my first take.

So here’s the step-by-step breakdown.

Open up Facebook on your smartphone. Where you would say "What's on your mind, choose "Live."

If that option isn't there, then just click into the post and then click on the camera icon below.

You will then get a list of options. Choose "Live Video."

Once you have done that, directly underneath your name, you will see a dropdown menu that has likely defaulted to either “Public” or Friends.”

Click on it and you will get a list of privacy setting options.

Select "Only me."

Now when you go live, the only person who can see your video is you. ​

When you are finished going live, instead of publishing it to your page, just delete it. Or publish it to your page (if you want to play around with any of the settings) and you can delete it later, comfortable with the knowledge that your video only had an audience of one (you!).

I hope this hack helps you get over the initial hurdle of going Live. It really is a powerful tool and I highly recommend you experiment with it as you are telling your digital story.

Want more tips on getting started with Facebook Live. I wrote up a helpful checklist, full of things to consider before, during and after your broadcast. Get your Free Facebook Live Checklist today!

Where should we send your free ​Facebook Live checklist?

People often tell me they don’t use Twitter because they can’t “say what they want to say in 140 characters.” That’s true, but probably not for the reason they think.

While Twitter allows up to 140 characters, the average reader won’t get past the first 100. That’s right—tweets between 71 and 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate than those creeping up towards 140. Even Twitter’s strict character limit is still too long for most folks!

But what about Facebook? Unlike Twitter, you can write significantly more in a Facebook post. If you are wondering, there is a limit—it’s 63,206 (because why not end this massive limit with a 6?!). So you might assume you should be utilizing more of those precious characters in your posts. But that’s actually not true.

The Three-Line RuleThis limit may seem a bit oppressive (and complicated—who’s got time to count every character), so I usually recommend what I call the three-line rule. Try to keep your content under three lines of text (not including your link).

Quick, easy, concise.

Can a post be too short?Alternately, people often share links/pictures/videos without adding any context to the post. I HIGHLY recommend you offer at least a few words as to why you are sharing whatever it is you are sharing.

A link without context will tell us the headline of the article, but it won’t tell your audience why they should care. Are you excited about the news you are sharing? Or dismayed? Is there a change coming that your audience must know about, or just an interesting piece of information, should they have a few spare minutes? Add a few words and spell out your key takeaway(s) for your audience.

Another fun trick: you can use a pull quote. A pull quote is where you literally pick a sentence (or a paragraph or two) that sum up your key takeaway from the article and share it in quotes.

The same is true for pics and videos. Who’s in the media (tag them if you can!)? Where are you? What is happening? Give us the context we need to be excited about your content.

So to summarize:

Keep your posts short

But not too short

Facebook NotesIF you want to write longer posts on Facebook (and there are times where that might make sense), there is a smarter way to do so than by just creating a regular post with a lot of text.

When you go to your brand page to create a post, it automatically defaults to a general post. But if you notice, directly below where it says “Write something…” there are a bunch of icons with additional options.

Some are fun, some less so. Play around with all of them and see if any of them are right for you.

The one we are talking about today though is a Facebook Note. To access it, first click “See All.”

Choose to “Write a note.” Then, instead of your traditional post box, you will see this:

Notice in the header, you have the option to add a photo! While this post type isn’t as powerful as some blogging platforms, it’s quite a bit more interesting than a traditional Facebook post. After uploading a photo, you can give your post a Title.

Then start typing.

But you’re not done yet!

Click where it says “Write something…”. Then select the plus in a circle. You now have the option to drop in a photo or embed throughout your Note.

Or click on the paragraph button directly below the plus and you can format as you wish throughout.

So the next time you have a bunch of pictures from an event, instead of creating an album, try adding them to a Facebook Note, dropping in the photos and telling the story of the event. Or try creating a top ten (or other such number) that will be relevant to your audience.

While this won’t replace your traditional post options, it does offer you an additional tool in your toolkit.

Next time you create a Facebook Note, tag me. I’d love to see what you are doing with this fun tool!

When you sit down to write a social media post, it’s easy to think about promoting your amazing, important and worthwhile message to the world — to make pronouncements that will change your audience’s behavior and blow their minds. Whether you are selling a product, promoting an event or even just sharing an interesting article you came across, you know the value you are adding to your community, and you want your audience to recognize it as well.

It doesn’t matter what the content is, every one of your social media posts will be consumed by (numerous) INDIVIDUAL people, reading it on their INDIVIDUAL screens, as they go about their INDIVIDUAL lives. So ensure that you are writing for each of them as an individual, not some amorphous crowd of people. It’s easy to forget this because your content, once published, will be seen by tens, hundreds or even thousands of people. Rather than thinking about how many people will consume your content, think about how they will consume it—alone. Think of it this way: you aren’t playing in a packed arena, you are providing a private living room concert; adjust accordingly.

Here’s a simple trick for ensuring that your content rings true to each individual member of your community: when you sit down to create it, picture an actual person with whom you want to connect and draft as if you are speaking directly to that particular person. Think about a costumer, a donor, a constituent or a fan… pick one person and write your post directly to them.

Here are some important questions to ask yourself before hitting publish:

Does “Sally” want to read your press release, or hear why it matters to her?

Does she want to be solicited, day in and day out, or does she want to be inspired/entertained/enlightened…?

If you share an article or a picture, will she understand why? (Hint: not if you don’t tell her!)

If you are using acronyms or industry-speak, will she know what you are talking about?

Is your sentence structure clear, is your post properly punctuated, is your spelling correct, are you capitalizing properly? (If you content is hard to follow, Sally isn’t going to dig in and work to decipher it, she is simply going to scroll right by.)

It’s easy to think about a social media post as a megaphone, announcing your latest content to the world. But really, it’s more like a telephone, creating a connection between you and an individual. Treat your content accordingly and get ready for higher engagement rates and better reach on future posts.

And if you are wondering, I wanted to let you know, I wrote this post especially for YOU!

You are busy; there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything. Social media feels like a chore; one that never ends. You might feel that if you can't do it right, why bother doing it all.

Fret not: A good social media program can be run in as few as 20 minutes a day.

This session will help you spend your limited social media time wisely, ensuring you reap the greatest rewards from this ever-growing part of business – in as few as 20 minutes a day!

By having a plan, segmenting tasks and properly organizing your ideas, you can create and manage an interesting, engaging and valuable social media program without having to sacrifice all of your many other responsibilities.

Instagram finished 2016 with 600 million monthly active users. 300 million of them are active on a daily basis. Three. Hundred. MILLION!

That’s 20% of ALL internet users.

And they are active. Everyday, users post an average of 95 million posts. And they like over 4 billion posts. (Yes, that’s billions with a “B”.)

Brands are a big part of the fun. And with good reason: according to Instagram’s Advertiser Statistics, HALF of all users follow at least one brand on the platform. Of those, “60% say that they learn about a product or service on the platform, while 75% take action, such as visiting a website, after looking at a post.”

So here's a simple question: Is your brand making the most of this platform?

Whether this is: -the first you are hearing about this interesting-sounding platform, -you have an account but you're not sure how to get started, or -you use IG daily, but you just aren't sure you're getting everything you can out of it,the time has come for you to Become an Instagram Champion!

We’ll cover topics like:

Getting started with an account, including finding the right avatar and drafting the perfect bio

Hashtags

What are they

How they work

Using them to grow your reach

Tagging

What it is

How to do it

Why it matters

Using filters and easily accessible editing tools to bring your photos and videos to life

Searching the platform by hashtag, user, location and more

Engaging with your audience

Easily toggling between different Instragram accounts

Making the most of Instagram Stories and Instagram Stories Live, including getting started and finding ways to powerfully tell your story through these fun, disappearing posts that can leave a big impression

Great native apps that will help you create super fun and engaging content

Your accounts free analytics

And more!

Trainings can be conducted on-site (in the Madison, WI area) or remotely.

I’ve worked with local, statewide and national political campaigns, nonprofits, small businesses, bands, artists, authors and journalists and more who wanted to better tell their digital story. Ready to tell yours?

I am very honored to have been included as one of Madison's social media and marketing experts.

Here the advice I offered:“Don’t sell; build. Build trust, communities, and relationships. Remember that every Like or Follower is a real person and treat them as such.

“Add value to the lives of your audience, both current and potential. Make it clear it’s not all about the sales funnel.

“Encourage your audience to join you in telling your story. Do this by engaging with their content, responding to their questions and comments, and by sharing/retweeting content they write about you and your brand. It’s always better to let others say how great you are than to try and say it yourself.”

Author's note: I wrote this post leading up to the holiday season. But these tips are valid all year round. So whenever you might be reading this post, I hope you find it helpful and timely.

The holidays are almost here and that means it’s spending season! People are going to be buying presents, taking vacations, going out for family dinners and thinking about end of year giving. There is no better time to take stock and make sure your social media is working for you as strongly as it should be.

So here is a quick top ten checklist to help ensure you get everything you can out of social media this holiday season:

1) Tag and recognize your partners

To tag on most platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn...) type an @ and then start typing a partner’s username. You will see a dropdown menu of options. Choose the right handle (unique name of person or brand) and viola! Instead of just writing their name online, you are tagging them. Now they will get a notification you mentioned them and hopefully they will turn around and spread the love.

2) Text < Pictures < Video < Facebook Live

Good text is important.

But posts with pictures are better.

Video will take you even further.

And Facebook Live can take you to levels you didn’t know was possible!

3) Have ONE hashtag (#) and use it

If you live, work and post in a B2C world (business 2 consumer as opposed to B2B--business 2 business), you should utilize a hashtag and you should use it often. It’s okay to have additional hashtags for specific sales, events, or campaigns, but regularly using multiple hashtags means none are as strong as they could be.

Post using your hashtag and encourage others to use it as well. You can do this by displaying it in your store/office/meeting spaces, sharing/retweeting/reposting content that uses your hashtag and generally letting your audience know about it.

4) Don’t autopost

When you autopost from Facebook to Twitter, you are telling your Twitter followers that your time is more valuable than theirs. It’s fine to post similar versions of the same content in both formats, but copy and paste your post into each platform and ensure that everything is optimized for the platform in which you are posting. (If a post ends with a "..." that is BAD!)

One potential exception: use a site like If This Than That (IFTTT)* and build a “recipe” that automatically posts your Instragram pictures to Twitter. Don’t EVER post a link to your Instagram picture on Twitter (automatically or otherwise). If people interact with you on Twitter, show them your picture where they are!

5) Engage with and share content from happy customers and respond openly and honestly to unhappy ones

While seeing negative content online about yourself and your brand might be painful, it’s there whether or not you engage! If you see negative comments, decide if the poster is a troll or an unhappy customer. A troll should never be engaged with, but DO NOT ignore unhappy customers; if they write about you on social media, they are talking about you publicly. Respond. Don’t be defensive, just explain your side and if you offered solutions, share them publicly. Don’t cede the conversation, engage in it!

And of course if people say nice things about you, like the comment/tweet/picture, comment on it, and share it! It’s amazing how far a little TLC can go.

6) Post often (but not too often!)

As a rule of thumb, you should post on Facebook and Instagram a minimum of 3-5 times per week and a maximum of 3-5 times per day.

On Twitter, post a minimum of 8-10 times per week and maximum of 8-10 times per day.

Sound like a lot? It’s not! Follow the 80/20 rule (#8) and you’ll be good to go.

7) Use your blog as a bridge to drive traffic from social media to your website

Spell out ideas in great detail on your blog. Then share snippets on social. This is a great tip for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and keeping your site up-to-date and dynamic. And it will serve as a bridge between your social and your site.

You shouldn't repost the same content over and over. But it’s okay (encouraged even!) to repackage your content. Your social will have a different audience in the morning than the evening. Different people will be logged on Wednesday than Friday. Keep finding ways to share your content, creatively and helpfully.

The 80/20 rule states that 20% of your content should be about you and your brand. The other 80% should be content that your audience will find helpful/relevant/interesting/funny/provoking...

For every post talking about a sale, a new product, store hours, or the like, you should have four posts that will simply add value to your audience’s lives.

9) Understand your analytics and learn from them

There is no shortage of third party apps and sites that will provide a tremendous amount of data about your social media’s analytics. But Facebook and Twitter each have very powerful analytic tools built right into the platform. They are free to access and will provide you invaluable data that you can learn from and use to improve your content and digital strategy.

To access your Facebook analytics, go to your brand page and navigate in the top menu bar to “Insights.” For Twitter, login to your account and open a new tab. Then go to analytics.twitter.com and they will be there waiting for you.

If you’ve never visited either, you’ll be amazed what you can learn.

10) Display your handles (and your hashtag) for the world to see

If you have a brick and mortar store or a restaurant, display your handles (and your hashtag) loud and proud. Let people know that you want to see pics of their new end table or the special cocktail you just served them.

Don’t have a brick and mortar store? Promote your handles in your emails and newsletters. Put it on your website. If you have clothing or merchandise, include your hashtag on it. If you are in front of a crowd (one person or ten thousand), let them know how to find you online.

No one will care more about what you have to say online then the people who already love what you do offline!

That's it!

Hope these tips help take your social media to the next level this holiday season. If you have any questions, be in touch through the comments or via email, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Ever wonder what your partners, competitors or market leaders are doing well on Facebook? Guess what? Facebook has you covered!

You can actually set up “Pages to Watch” and then track both their weekly progress and their top posts of the week. If you haven’t already set up this functionality, fear not—it’s easy!

First go to your Facebook brand page (you might call it a business page). Then at the top menu, go to your insights.

In the left-hand menu, you will be in Overview by default. This section will give you top-line info on your page, show you analytics for your most recent five posts and, if you scroll down, allow you to watch any pages you have setup to watch.

Bear in mind that Facebook offers these free tools (and MANY others) on a tiered system. Your page must have at least 35 likes in order for you to access your insights in the first place and it must have at least 100 likes to unlock the pages to watch feature. So if you don’t see these options, fret not. You’ll get there! And when you do, you have plenty of great new tools to look forward to.

Assuming you can see “Add Pages,” type in a page and select “+Watch Page.”

Once selected, it will show up in your Pages to Watch section.

Right off the bat, you’ll see the pages total page likes, their percent change from last week, how many posts they did this week and their engagement this week.

If you click on them within your list, you’ll get a list of their most popular posts from this week.

It’s worth pointing out, none of the information you are seeing in this section is private. You could see all of this by heading to their page and looking through their posts, seeing their comments, shares and reactions and tracking their page like growth on your own. But if you have many competitors, it can be a lot of trouble to keep up with all of them.

This functionality puts every page you want to follow in one easy-to-access place and shows you their weekly growth and engagement. And Facebook will include you in the list, so you can see how your own page compares.

As far as seeing their top content of the week, while this too is nothing private or hidden, it is a good practice to see what is working well for others in your field. There won’t be any state secrets revealed, but it will help you see what is getting people excited in your field on any given week.

So set yours up, and share anything interesting or exciting you learn in the comments, or on social. Follow and chat with us on Facebook and Twitter.